Italy: OECD’s Gurría welcomes labour market reforms

Mr Gurría said the draft labour market reform law, presented last Friday, 23 March 2012, will address long-standing challenges in the Italian labour market, including persistently low participation rates for women and chronic unemployment, especially for young people who have been particularly hard hit by the crisis.

“The new reform package is a decisive step to tackle the main problems of the Italian labour market in a coherent manner,” Mr Gurría said. “Labour reforms will complement other initiatives, including the already approved overhaul of the pension system, and pro-competition reforms, and should allow Italy to boost job creation, bring down unemployment and strengthen long-term growth.”

The OECD has long recommended that Italy clarify and ease stringent dismissal procedures for workers on permanent contracts, strengthen the safety net role of the unemployment insurance system, implement effective activation policies, curb the use of fixed-term or temporary labour contracts and improve the transition from education to work for youth.

The OECD stands ready to continue supporting the Italian authorities in their ambitious economic reform agenda.